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VOLUME 115, ISSUE 119 Housing sign-up changes Ram Village recontracting dates will be moved up BY ELISABETH GILBERT STAFF WRITER UNC’s housing recontracting process will begin earlier than usual this year for prospec tive residents of the Ram Village undergraduate apartments. Starting Monday and continuing through Jan. 15, Ram Village tenants will have the chance to reapply to remain in the same apart ments during die 2008-09 school year. SOME CONSTRUCTION ON HOLD Smaller projects still under way BY COLIN CAMPBELL STAFF WRITER Those living in Hinton James Residence Hah will be long gone and graduated by the time the building sees a complete face-lift UNC's Department of Housing and Residential Education has downscaled its master construc tion plan and put projects like Hinton James on hold, after an over-budget project and a spike in construction costs. Full-scale renovations of South Campus high-rise residence halls, which were originally scheduled for this year, won’t start for at least five years, said Larry Hicks, direc tor of the housing department Housing’s budget challenges stem from unanticipated costs of Ram Village apartments. The department reached its maximum debt capacity after the apartments were completed in 2006 at a cost of about $15.3 million, or 22 percent more than the project’s original budget. But smaller-scale, less expensive projects are already under way, and others are planned to upgrade selected buildings, primarily focus ing on improving heating and air conditioning systems. Window air-conditioning units will be installed throughout South Campus residence halls to provide air conditioning to all of campus housing within several years. Faulty heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in Carmichael Residence Hall will be replaced this year, and simi lar work will begin next year in Old East and Old West residence halls. “The No. 1 issue is air condi tioning,” Hicks said. Campus sprinkler installation ongoing Plan fits all residence halls by 2012 BY COLIN CAMPBELL STAFF WRITER One of the biggest construction projects in UNC residence halls in the coming years won’t be as noticeable as new air condition ing or a fresh coat of paint. Hie Department of Housing and Residential Education is embarking on a project to install fire sprinklers in all residence halls by fall 2012. The installation will begin this summer with sprinklers being added to Everett, Lewis, Stacy and Hinton James residence halls. Outfitting Hinton James with sprinklers will continue in sum mer 2009, while the other budd ings will have complete sprinkler systems by next fall. Installation will not take place during the school year because housing doesn’t have the bed capac ity to dose halls for the project “We’re going to need to accom plish this in the summer,” said Larry Hicks, director of housing CLARIFICATION Due to reporting errors, the Nov. 20 front-page story “Starbucks opening delayed till March” incorrectly implied that the delay of opening Starbucks was a result of the N.C. Department of Insurance’s review of the design plan. The DOI had not yet received a plan. The delay stemmed from UNC officials not initially realizing they would need to submit the plan to the DOI until after submitting it to campus engineers. The Daily Hu Heel apologizes. Serving the students and the University community since 1893 ohr Saihj (Tar lirrl After those requests are filled, current Ram Village residents who want to move to different apartments can sign up in person Jan. 23. Officials described the process as “instant gratification” students will find out at their sign-up times if their desired apartment type is available. If so, they will be assigned to one right away. If not, they can try for a different apartment setup or look elsewhere. The five Ram Village buildings contain 253 Site- DTH/ZACH HOFFMAN Workers are replacing the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in Carmichael Residence Hall this year An increase in the price of building materials has forced the Department of Housing and Residential Education to delay large-scale projects in favor of less expensive ones. Rising material costs While the Ram Village apart ments were under construction, the price of building materials, includ ing concrete and steel, increased in. price by 30 percent to 40 percent “The project that jumped the tracks was Ram Village,” Hicks said. The project cost $15.3 million more than officials had expected. While renovation projects were largely unaffected by the price and residential education. About $8 million of the project’s sl7-2 million budget will come from student rent revenues. The other $9.2 million will come from UNC’s repair and renovation funds. The University’s construc tion funding also will be used to install sprinklers in Woollen Gym and Carmichael Auditorium, said Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for facilities planning. Sprinkler installations were orig inally scheduled to be complete by 2017, but the plan was expedited when the N.C. General Assembly passed a mandate requiring all pub lic university housing be equipped with sprinklers by 2012. The mandate was enacted in the aftermath of a deadly fire in 1996 at the Phi Gamma Delta fra ternity house at UNC. The fire which killed five students and injured three others SEE SPRINKLERS, PAGE 5 arts I page 4 SINGING TO THE RAFTERS Soprano Kathleen Battle gives a rare performance in Memorial Hall on Monday night. The five time Grammy winner is accompa nied by pianist Joel Martin. www.dailytarheel.com apartments, with options for one-, two-, three and four-bedroom apartments. “That sounds a lot better,” said Ram Village resident Shanaye Barber, comparing the new process to the way she applied for an apartment last year. Barber lived in a four-bedroom Ram Village apartment in 2006-07 and wanted to move to a two-bedroom place with a friend this year. She said she applied online, only to find out later, through an e-mail, that she and her friend SEE RECONTRACTING, PAGE 5 change, Ram Village required the construction of five new buildings. “It was a lot of concrete and steel,” said Steve Lofgren, assistant director of housing and facilities. The price spike was caused in part by Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq. In addition, the demand for materials in North Carolina was high because there are many con struction projects under way, as part of the state’s higher education SEE HOUSING, PAGE 5 PropoSeffcprinkler Ipcailonslj 1, ir^^Tl Sprinkler fesauation will be completed erases I uring the next seven il summers. They cannotlbp added during the school year because of th£University's housing rapacity Ithe Nr fjpner; il A<;<;pmhly mandated rhat all pjMij university Housing must have sprinklers by 2012. — : —foßjj E 7 a aim: Il v ■ Slotted for sprinkler installation in 2008 j i| rr . ■ Slotted for sprinkler installation in 2009 2 •- —3 OpT ! “““ ■ Slotted for sprinkler installation in 2010 l 1” * J U ■ Slotted for sprinkler installation in 2011 —j- ..! ■ ■ / * Sprinkler installation will span two years, P*l In|_ i 1 I I ti.'gpJXX U .......... 1.1., odOTvm‘ wmmr'- I?*-*—=rj jHr j Residence hall construction budgets Costs of materials and other considerations can change the cost of a project from the initial projection. Ram Village exceeded its budget by 22 percent. ■ M Projected budget Actual budget after completion 1 j HHHHHIHHHHHIIIIIBL.. MMMHMNMHHHEnHMHMHHHNI Carmichael HB Renovation Old East/Old West ■ Renovation i 0 $20,000,000 $40,000,000 $60,000,000 $80,000,000 $100,000,000 SOURCE: http://WWW.UNC.EDU DTH/ALLIEWASSUM La Colina | page 10 MARTI REINCARNATED : Actor Chaz Mena performs a theatrical work at UNC on the life of Cuban intellectual Jos6 Marti, allowing audience members to “converse' with the historical figure. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2007 2008-09 Housing recontracting timeline Dc. 3 to Jan. IS: Ram Village apartments application open for current Ram residents. Jan. 21: Iheme/Leaming Community application deadline for Intent to Return Forms for currently enrolled students. Jan. 23: In-person Ram Village sign-up for current Ram residents requesting different apartment. Jan. 24 to Jan. 30: Ram Village application open for students not living in Ram Village. this day in history NOV. 27.1777... The Campus Y begins a program linking UNC students with an el derly community member to foster outreach. The program is modeled off Big Brothers Big Sisters. Fab. 4, 5 and 7: In-person Ram Village sign-up for students not living in Ram Village. Fob. 5: Iheme/Leaming Community application deadline for currently enrolled students is 5 p.m. Fab. 19: Iheme/Leaming Community status confirmed. Fab. 25,26: Same room recontracting application open. Fab. 28 to March 2: Open campus recontracting application. Medco ropes aUNC dean Dr. Bill Roper elected to board BY EMILY STEPHENSON. STAFF WRITER A UNC dean will be one of the newest members of Medco Health Solutions Inc.’s board of directors. The Fortune 500 company chose Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the School of Medicine and chief executive officer of UNC Health Care, to join its board effective Dec. 10. After a nationwide search, the New Jersey-based pharmacy ben efit company decided last week on Roper ancHSlyrtle Potter, chief operating officer for biotechnology researching company Genentech, as its newest directors. “We were looking for people who understand the future of health care in this country,” said David Machlowitz, senior vice president of Medco. “We looked at peo ple all over the country.” As part of the nine-person board, Roper said he will oversee activi ties of the com pany which helps clients get affordable health care and safe treatment Dr. Bill Roper will add Medco board member to his already long resume. Roper, who is also the University’s vice chancellor for medical affairs, will be com pensated for his work with a combination of cash and Medco stocks, which will be added to the $690,000 he earns from UNC. But before he begins work in the new position, it must be approved by Chancellor James Moeser and UNC-system President Erskine Bowles. “There is a formal process that the University has wisely set up to oversee these kinds of activities,” Roper said, adding that he has not yet filled out the necessary forms for the chancellor’s office. “We will be doing that in due course.” If Roper’s new position is approved, it could be very time consuming, said John Cassis, a four-year member of the Medco board of directors. “The time commitment is con siderable,” he said, explaining that the group meets in person about five times a year, with extra phone conference meetings as needed. Roper is already involved with several organizations outside UNC, holding board positions for four businesses in addition to SEE ROPER, PAGE 5 weather i/fcx Partly cloudy index H 59,134 police log 2 calendar 2 opinion 6 Smes 9 Colina 10
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Nov. 27, 2007, edition 1
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